September 22nd is the fall equinox. Another year, another fall, a time of harvest. To see, to re-member, to gather, and to celebrate what we are growing and have grown in our gardens this year. Sometimes, we are moving so fast in our lives that we don’t take a moment to stop, to listen, to look, to assess in an honoring way. The fall equinox is a beautiful time for that.
The name equinox comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). It is the time of year and a moment in time when it is said that the day and night are of equal length for everyone across the globe. Imagine that, as if the sun pauses and we are all still in a moment together, a moment of peace. It is a time when we begin to move towards the darkness of winter, and the internal (and eternal) space inside our hearts begins to prepare for what is to come. In so doing, we harvest and celebrate. And we look inward to see more clearly, knowing that the creative is born through the receptive. It is the official ending of summer and the beginning of fall.
Here are 10 ways to honor the fall equinox and yourself:
1. Recognition
Find a few moments to become quiet. In those moments, become aware of what has served you during the last season. Consider the people in your life, your friends or family, or even a person in passing who may have had an impact on you. Include your home and the natural elements, or events that have felt meaningful to you. Consider what all this has brought your way by imagining into what needs were met and filled in this season.
For example, time with friends may have filled a need for belonging or laughter or intimacy. Your home may have filled a need for security or warmth or familiar comfort. The sky, the sun, or the moon may have filled a need for a sense of expansive awareness. Recognizing the quiet consistent peace that moves through your days reflected by those celestial bodies. The five elements: air, earth, water, fire, ether or sound may have filled a need to be nurtured or fed through the source of fire and fuel in our kitchens or the digestive fires in our bellies that keep us healthy. Or maybe the five elements met a need for peace as you sat upon the earth or watched the rain on a summer day.
When you see what has served you along with an understanding of the need it has filled in you, it anchors-in the ability to know, deep in your cells, what you love, what you cherish, what you may want more of in your life. Celebrating these moments through your sheer recognition of them helps you to embody a revelatory peace that will wash over you and lift you up, again and again.
2. Nature
Take a moment to be with nature in all Her glory. Commune and connect with the natural world around you: the trees, a river, a sunrise or sunset, the way the light reflects across the walls of your home.
3. Planting
Write out a list of what you want to plant in this coming season, of what you would like to see growing in your physical or metaphorical garden. If there is something specific, spend a moment in wonder for how it may come to pass, as if it is already here. And if there is nothing to plant, then simply sit with your own heart and with what your heart speaks to you.
4. Clearing
Create time for a fall cleaning. It can be simple, almost symbolic. Even a small amount of tidying-up or rearranging helps us to recognize the newness of this season and can create a clearing for the arrival of new things to come. Making way for further planting and harvesting that occurs throughout the year.
5. Eating
Prepare a fall-themed meal for yourself or a friend. Lavish the meal with fall colors: oranges and golds and yellow. Baked squash, red peppers, or yellow dahl soup! Pair it with a green salad, and a cup of ginger or cinnamon tea.
6. Decorating
Create or decorate an altar in celebration of the season. Celebrating what has been, what is, and what will come. Even if you’re unsure of what the future holds, creating and decorating a space in celebratory anticipation can spark ideas, peace, and joy.
7. Connection
Connect to yourself, connect to fall, and connect to your heart, welcoming beauty into your heart and your home.
8. Movement
Move to music or create a rhythmic fall dance for yourself. Let the music guide your movements and let your movements express your connection to the season and yourself.
9. Be Seen
And if there is nothing to celebrate, if life is fallow, or if this last season has been an especially difficult one with hardship and grief, find a friend who will sit with you, who will listen to you, and who will witness your life. May it be someone who easily says, “Yes, I see you. Yes, I hear you. Yes, I love you. You are loved.” Sit with love, breathe in love, and feel the solace and comfort of love embracing you with an enormous warm hug. And if there is no one around, be seen and witnessed by the Earth and the Stars and the Sun and the Moon, heavenly bodies that nurture us every single day. Know that they see you, too.
10. Create Your Own Ritual
Finally, create a ritual that works for you, a ritual of play, which honors your Human and Divine Self as One.
Any one of these small rituals will help you to remember and weave yourSelf to yourself. Happy Beginning of Fall!!!
To support your rest and reset, visit how2rest.com and use the coupon code RESTWELL for 50% off the course.
To join my community and explore creativity and peace, visit Embrace Your Creativity and Peace.